1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telephone devices, and particularly to an intelligent telephone set equipped with caller-ID and call forwarding capabilities.
2. Technical Background
The local exchange carriers (LECS) offer their customers various services such as caller ID (CID), call forwarding, and voice mail. Caller identification (CID) services are offered by the telephone companies to provide caller information to called parties. Typically, the CID is the caller's telephone number. The CID information is used to track incoming calls, to trace malicious and prank calls, to store identified numbers for re-dial, and to block unwanted calls. Most countries employ the 1200 baud Bell 202 standard or the CCITT V.23 FSK format to provide CID services.
In one approach that has been considered, a telecommunications device was equipped to receive and analyze packetized information preceding the incoming call. The packetized information identified the call as being either a speech type call or data type call. The device generated a distinct ringing tone for data messages, and another distinct ringing tone for speech data. Based on the tone, the device doubled as a telephone set and a facsimile machine.
In another approach that has been considered, the service provider used an ISDN network to provide a signaling channel out of the voice band to transmit call forwarding information to the called party's telephone set. The call was forwarded without the called party having to answer the call. The call was also forwarded without having to interrupt an on-going call.
While the above mentioned applications are useful, they are quite limited in their use of CID information. What is needed is an intelligent telephone set that allows a user to set criteria for receiving and processing calls based on CID data stored in the telephone set. In addition, an intelligent telephone set is needed that is capable of using CID data to forward calls in accordance with the extracted CID data. Typically, network based call forwarding services have to be manually activated and inactivated by the user. This often results in users being charged for unwanted calls being forwarded to their wireless units. By using an intelligent telephone set that forwarded calls using CID data, users could bypass the call forwarding services offered by the local exchange carriers.